


How Dare You Speak of Grace?

by UnderUrsa



Series: Empty Crowns [11]
Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Gen, Gods AU, Implied past Wilbur/Schlatt, Minor Character Death, No Beta We Die Like Endermen, Protective Brothers Wilbur and Techno, Protective Parent Phil Watson (Video Blogging RPF), Wilbur Soot and Technoblade and TommyInnit are Siblings, sbi, screeching our lungs out
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-21
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-17 19:26:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,943
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29597592
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UnderUrsa/pseuds/UnderUrsa
Summary: War is anger and rage and fear, and Techno knows this, but explaining it to his younger brothers might be a bit more difficult than he imagined.OrThe boys are safe wrapped up in Phil's wings, but somehow they still want to fight, even after everything that's happened.
Relationships: Jschlatt/Wilbur Soot, Wilbur Soot & Technoblade, Wilbur Soot & Technoblade & TommyInnit & Phil Watson
Series: Empty Crowns [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2049663
Comments: 25
Kudos: 223





	How Dare You Speak of Grace?

**Author's Note:**

> So this has mentions of blood and death as well as an implied panic attack. Descriptions of blood, kidnapping, and animal death as well, so be careful!
> 
> They're gods of chaos, what did you expect?
> 
> Direct continuation of my works "Oh My Dear Lord" & "I've Been Running Wild", this won't make much sense without reading those first, but go ahead if you want lol

It was… difficult to find the line between reprimanding two teens who had snuck out from under their brother's watch to join a war and comforting traumatized kids. 

Phil wanted to protect them, so so dearly wanted to keep his two youngest away from all the horrors this world had to offer. He wanted to protect Wilbur and Techno too to a point, but they were older, already settled into their powers and they had been on their own for quite a while before they met him. 

But his kids… His _kids_ had been almost taken by a god screaming about how two children were his to sell. Phil had heard the horned god screaming as he fought techno and wilbur, screaming about how he had found the two boys first, how they were his, that he had some sort of claim over them.

It made his blood boil, and Phil had almost joined the fight himself, he would have if it hadn't been for the trembling children within the protective circle of his wings.

Sometimes Phil forgot just how young they both were. Gods had very long lives, Phil himself had lived for eons and he was sure that Techno and Wilbur were somewhere in their thousands at least, but these boys… these boys were still children even by human standards. Well, maybe not by children by human standards, but still not adults, surely. 

Phil could hear his two eldest disposing of the body that was slowly turning to ash in the woods to their left, most likely not wanting the kids to even see the horned god again if they could help it. 

They were good brothers. 

Phil lifted his head from the dome he had created with his own body and wings, looking at his eldest two with a soft but sad smile. 

They were still seething, he could tell that much. 

Techno was pacing, seeming to now have nowhere to put his energy. Still being so close to the war, the blood inevitably calling to its god, was obviously doing little good in this situation. 

Wilbur was just staring towards where Phil assumed the body had been thrown, his eyes dark and a severe frown upon his usually very handsome face.

"Go clean yourselves up, boys. See if you can find some food while you're out. Techno and I left all of our supplies back at our camp," Phil’s voice was soft, trying his hardest not to startle the children housed under his wings or the obviously on edge and bloodthirsty gods in front of him. 

Phil hadn’t seen Wilbur like this before and he wanted to give both of them enough time to calm down before trying to talk to their younger brothers.

Techno immediately stalked out of the ring of light that the fire was casting, sword still clenched tightly in his fist, not even acknowledging that Phil had even said anything. There was too much going on in his head, he needed to keep his hands busy for a bit longer before he came back to see how his brothers were doing. Techno was grateful that Phil had given him something purposeful to do, otherwise he most likely would have gone to find something else to bloody his hands with. 

Wilbur turned slowly to look at Phil, his eyes nearly blank before nodding once and following Techno out. 

Phil sighed and looked down at the teens again. They weren't shaking anymore and Tommy was back to semi-regular breathing again, so it was at least something. 

He pulled his arms back from around them to pet both of their hair, "Are you alright, boys? Anything immediate that needs to be taken care of? Injuries?"

Tubbo shook his head quickly, "I don't- I don't think so?"

Tommy was slower in responding, but eventually he shook his head as well, "I'm not hurt, just a few scratches I think..."

His voice was the quietest Phil had ever heard from the usually boisterous boy. 

"The god is gone now, do you want to stay in here or do you want to wait for your brothers by the fire?" He asked as he noticed Tubbo shiver. 

They were both quiet.

"Okay, how about this? We can move closer to the fire and you both can sit on either side of me, I can still keep a wing around both of you."

With a small nod of approval from both, Phil slowly moved their ragtag group over to one of the fallen logs next to the still bright fire. He sat down first, but almost immediately brought the boys to either side of him and draped his wings over them protectively. 

"I would never let any harm come to either of you. I'm right here and you're safe now." Let it never be said that Phil didn't know how to comfort. He would be a shitty god of death if he couldn't comfort those that he worked with at least a little bit. "Wilbur and Techno are going to come back soon with some food, then we can get you both back home with Wilbur."

Tommy answered by shaking his head quickly.

“Tommy?” Phil asked, looking down at him in confusion.

"No! I-I don't want to go home! I- We're supposed to be here!” Tommy wouldn’t look Phil in the eyes, but the god of death still caught the look of determination in the teens eyes. Even after all this Tommy still wanted to be here?

“You boys have already seen more than I wanted you to…” Phil trailed off, “There are many reasons I didn’t want you coming here with us and I wish you had just trusted us enough to stay home with Wilbur where we knew you were safe.”

“But we’re supposed to be here too! We can feel the war too, or did you forget that we’re gods of chaos? War is chaos, Phil! We need to be here!” Tommy finally looked up to meet Phil’s eyes, his familiar fire back and blazing just as strongly as he remembered.

Phil let out a long breath, staring ahead into the fire, “War is much more than chaos, Tommy. Like I said, there are multiple reasons I wanted to keep you both from this.” He raised a hand and ran it through his dirty hair hastily, “Techno knows more about this that I do,” He mumbled with another sigh.

“But Phil…” It was Tubbo this time, “We already fought earlier! We know what war is! We’re not- We’re not ignorant or whatever!”

“Boys…” Phil was exasperated at this point, “There’s more to war than just fighting. I don’t think you’re ignorant, you’re both very smart and we all know it, but there’s some knowledge that only comes with time, and I was trying to keep you away from the worst life lessons that I learned much too early.”

"You can't keep us locked away forever just because you had a shitty time when you were younger," Tommy grumbled, looking dejectedly towards the fire.

"You boys have to understand that I'm just trying my best to keep the both of you safe, I just want you to be able to grow up normally and not have to carry the weight that we had to when we were growing into our powers."

"And exactly how long were you planning on keeping us safe from everything except the inside of our cabin? We have to learn things sometime, Phil!" Tommy threw his hands up in anger, but still didn't move out from under the wing covering him.

"I know, I know," Phil let out a long breath, "I won't force you two to go home if you really don't want to, but there are some things that I need you to know before I'm comfortable letting you fight."

Phil looked both boys in the eyes to convey his seriousness before continuing, "Techno and Wilbur will be better at explaining things about actual war than I am, so I'll leave that to them, but I'll go ahead and explain why it's dangerous for you to be without us in general if you boys are alright with that."

When the god of death received two hesitant nods he went on to explain how young gods were rare. After humanity had been around for so long, there weren't many new gods popping up, no new things for humans to worship and dedicate their energy towards. Young gods we're rare and coveted, often hunted for their powers and then sold to the highest bidder. 

"Did that happen to you?" Tubbo piped up.

Phil shook his head with a small smile, "No, I'm one of the oldest gods, so there was no one to even teach me how to be a god, much less try to kidnap me. I can't speak for your brothers though, they're old, but not as old, and I haven't asked about it."

Phil continued to tell stories from when he was younger and more inexperienced if only just to fill the silence that two still on-edge teenagers would have usually filled.

It was only a while later that they heard footsteps coming towards them from the darkness of the woods. Phil felt the two boys tense up and sighed.

"It's only Techno and Wil, boys."

The two teens still huddled under his wings immediately relaxed. New people might be a bit of a problem in the future, but that was something for them to deal with later. 

When Techno and Wilbur stepped into the firelight, they looked every inch of the gods they were supposed to be.

Techno was splattered with blood, both old and new, a few rabbits clutched in the hand that wasn't resting on his now sheathed sword. 

Phil didn't comment on the fact that the amount of new blood dripping off of Techno's armor could not be caused only by a few rabbits. 

Wilbur looked much the same, blood dripping from his armor, some even splattered on his face. The tallest still looked like his mind was elsewhere, but he at least wasn't glaring into space anymore. Phil would have to ask later what exactly Wilbur's relationship had been with the horned god. 

"I thought I told you boys to get cleaned up while you were out?" Phil asked teasingly. 

"Couldn't find a stream," Techno grunted, heaving himself down on a log across the fire from the huddled trio.

As Techno started the monotonous process of skinning and cleaning the rabbits, Wilbur joined him on the log.

"So," Phil started, "The boys don't want to go home, they want to stay here and fight."

Techno's eyes flicked up to look at them, the blood red of His irises reflecting the firelight menacingly. 

Tommy shivered when he realized that Techno's boar skull was still perched on his face. He didn't wear it around the house anymore, only when they went out or they were fighting. As much as Tommy was loath to admit it, it was intimidating.

"Is that so?" Techno rumbled, his voice low in his chest as he returned to working on preparing his catches.

"We're supposed to be here!" Tommy said, finally finding his voice again.

"Tommy…" Wilbur sighed, running a hand down his face and smearing the splatters of blood that hadn't dried yet.

"We're gods of chaos, Wilbur! You can't just keep us locked away from everything!"

Wilbur's eyes were reflecting the firelight as well, Tommy realized. The usually dark brown depths had taken on a red tint on their own. None of them, besides maybe Techno, had seen Wilbur like this, serious and angry.

"Did you forget what happened an hour ago?! If I hadn't shown up exactly when I did, you could both be gods only know where!"

The two teens flinched back at the reminder, pushing further back into Phil's wings.

Wilbur let out another sigh, "You don't get to be stupid and then continue to be stupid. I didn't know where the fuck you two went! I woke up and you were both gone! Fucking disappeared right from under my nose. If I hadn't been able to find your trail, you would have been taken or killed and it would have been my fault, you little shits!"

Techno elbowed Wilbur harshly in the ribs when he saw tears welling up in Tubbo's eyes. He knew that Wilbur was worried and finding their brothers being held hostage by a ghost from his past frayed the last threads of his waning compassion for them, fear for their safety overtaking everything else, but now probably wasn't the best time to yell at the teens about how badly their mistakes could have ended.

"I wanted you two to tell them about war and why it's not only just chaos. They've been pulled here and they've already fought, but they don't know much about what war truly means." Phil looked at his two oldest.

Techno glanced over at Wilbur and let out a long breath, knowing that he would have to take the lead on this one. Usually Wilbur did most of the talking, but he was out of it, and this sort of was Techno’s expertise wasn’t it?

"War is… War is anger and rage and fear.” Techno started, keeping his eyes trained on his catches. “Take any negative emotion you've ever felt and war encompasses them all. War is politics and greed over land or money or religion. War is spilling blood just for the hell of it because the country you're affiliated with demanded it. People die, humans die, and they don't respawn. They are gone forever and their families and loved ones are left to mourn those that are killed over whatever the war is being fought for. Wars can last years, millions can die and rarely any of the deaths on the battlefield are peaceful. You end life with a sword through your chest or an axe to the neck, adding your blood to the pools already on the ground."

Techno pushed skewers through the rabbit mean and placed them over the fire to cook.

"I have killed hundreds of thousands of people. Their blood is on my hands and their last moments of life were taken by me." Techno pulled off his mask and looked Tommy and Tubbo in their eyes. "And their voices stay with me forever." He tapped the side of his head, a small smile with no joy pulling up his lips. 

"War is not fun and it is not a game. Every time you fight, you take humans' lives into your hands, and if it comes down to it, you have to take their life from them. You have to end their existence permanently."

“As insignificant as you always say humans are, they are the source of our power, their belief is what makes us gods in the first place. If no one believes in you for long enough, you will eventually fade from existence. Human lives may be short, but one thing they excel at is telling stories, so if you fuck up, they will remember it for generations, and if you fuck up too badly, you’ll just become a myth.”

Tubbo was looking at the ground between his feet and Tommy was looking off into the woods, his eyebrows furrowed and a frown on his face.

“War isn’t something to take lightly,” Wilbur’s voice was quiet but commanding as he started to speak, “Not to mention that you can be killed as well. You both may be gods, but that doesn’t mean you can’t catch a sword through the ribs.”

“Like you’re one to talk,” Tommy grumbled louder than he probably meant to, “You never fight anything, not even mobs.”

Wilbur’s eyes narrowed, “Just because I don’t fight doesn’t mean I can’t. I was living with Techno before we found any of you. You think I could have lasted with him if I didn’t know how to fight?”

Tommy glared harder into the forest, not saying a word.

“There are other gods here. This war has drawn in everyone on the continent it seems like,” Techno sighed, pulling the cooked meat off of the flames and handing three of the skewers over to the trio, “If you want to be here with me and Phil, you’re going to have to stay by at least one of us at all times just to make sure you don’t die or get god-napped.”

“You’re not seriously going to let them stay here are you?!” Wilbur turned to Techno with wide eyes.

“If they want to stay so badly then they can stay. If we sent them back now, they would just sneak out again, I’m sure of it.” Techno met Tommy’s eyes, one eyebrow raised and Tommy idly wondered when Techno had figured them out so well. “If they think they’re ready to be out in the middle of this shit show, then they will be.” 

Neither Tommy or Tubbo liked the sharp look that was in the pinkettes eyes.

Techno handed another skewer of meat to Wilbur before taking his own and tearing a piece off, “If you both want to learn what real war is like, then by all means, come join.” Techno gestured around him vaguely, “Just don’t come crying to me when you get fucked.”

“Techno,” Phil scolded, “Stop being mean to your brothers.”

Techno only snorted and turned back to his food.

“I didn’t even have time to grab my good set of armor,” Wilbur whined, seeming more back to his normal self than he had been since bursting onto the scene.

**Author's Note:**

> It's been a while, sorry about that! Classes have started and I'm working on my thesis this semester, so updates to this series may be a bit more spread out than previous, but I will keep updating! 
> 
> I've been thinking of making this war arc a separate series still in this AU? I want to write more about these gremlins in war, but I also have ideas about other characters I want to bring in and getting through all the stuff I want to write for this war arc is going to take longer than I want it to and I want to be able to write further in the time line. 
> 
> So keep a look out for that lol
> 
> As always comments and kudos are so appreciated!


End file.
